“I need to go home.” Xan’s stomach flopped like a landed fish.
“No!” Janus exclaimed, reaching toward him. “Your father—You have to stay. Can’t risk—” Janus coughed so hard the veins of his throat bulged. “Can’t risk the heirs.” Collapsing deeper into the bed, he cackled miserably, tears slipping from his eyes. “But it looks like one of us caught it anyway.”
“And now you’re here coughing in the other heir’s face,” Urho barked, pushing Xan away from his cousin.
“Stop,” Caleb said sharply. “He’s feverish and not in his right mind. You’re a doctor. You know that.”
Janus rattled out another cough before his eyes rolled up, unconsciousness taking him.
“Damn it all.” Urho turned to Xan. “Go. Leave here. Wash up. Change your clothes. And then have the cook send you ginger tea with lemon. Lots of lemon. Drink it all and then order more.” He turned to Caleb. “You too.”
“I’m not leaving him until I know he’s going to be well.” Caleb tucked his hair behind his ear and looked up at Urho defiantly.
Urho caught Xan’s eye, but Xan didn’t know how to explain Caleb’s determination with just his brows or his expression. So he simply shrugged. “Urho, don’t you need your medical bag?”
Urho glared at him. “I do. Be a love and get it for me.”
“Why don’t you go get it yourself? Caleb and I need a moment.”
“And leave you both here? Exposed?”
“Like you said, we can argue about all of that once Janus is settled. Your bag’s in your room, isn’t it?”
Urho gritted his teeth, but one look at Caleb left him defeated. He stomped out of the room muttering under his breath about stubborn omegas.
Xan watched Caleb fuss over Janus for another few seconds, and then he took hold of Caleb’s hand. “He’s going to be all right.”
“How do you know that?” Caleb jerked his hand away. “He looks like wolf-god’s apprentice has come to snatch his soul.”
“Urho’s a good doctor and—”
“Urho’s scared, can’t you see that?” Caleb squeezed his eyes closed and a tear slipped out. “Besides he’s got other priorities.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Xan asked, wiping Caleb’s tear away.
“It means he cares more about you and Vale than he does about what happens to Janus.”
Xan made a soft sound. “And you. He cares about you.”
“I know. But…” Caleb shook his head.
“You’re scared, too, and that’s why you’re saying all of this. Urho’s a doctor. He cares for everyone who needs him.”
Caleb’s eyes burned into him. “Urho needs to stay well to deliver Vale’s child. You know that. I know that. So I’ll care for Janus.”
“And what if you get sick?”
“Then I’ll get sick.” He shrugged. “I’m healthy. I’ll survive it.”
“Janus was healthy—and Ray. This flu is incredibly dangerous. I won’t risk you.” Xan squared his shoulders. “I’ll be the one to care for him.”
“You can’t,” Caleb shot back. “Your father needs an heir for his fortune and his business. Betas can’t inherit. You know that. If you and Janus both get sick and if you both…” Caleb shuddered. “No. You can’t.”
“Like you said, I’m healthy. I’ll be fine.”
Urho must have run to his room and back because he came racing in, out of breath and sweating with the medicine bag in hand. “The servants are going to make the tea. They’ll be bringing it and some fresh water out for him soon.” He opened his bag and rummaged inside.
Xan caught Caleb’s eye and saw that no further argument was going to change his mind. As Urho brought out his stethoscope and thermometer, Ren came in with a facemask strapped on and arms full of cloths. Similarly masked servants carrying bowls of water, boiling and cool, and the full stock of their medicine cabinets in the house followed him. “Perhaps some of this will be of use,” Ren asked hopefully.
